Palestine Action take direct action to Kent’s arms factory, Instro Precision in Sandwich, Kent.

This morning, activists from Palestine Action attached themselves to vehicles, blocking the four entry routes to Discovery Park, the base of Instro Precision in Sandwich, Kent. Direct action has again halted production at Instro, a subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, preventing all entry.

Prior to the Kent blockade, Palestine Action struck overnight at financial corporations invested in Israel’s war machine, with all of today’s actions marking the A15 Global Day of Action for a “Coordinated Economic Blockade to Free Palestine”.

A Palestine Action spokesperson has stated:

“It has been clear that there is no route through government to ending the supply of British weapons to Israel’s war machine. 40,000 Palestinians have been massacred in Israel’s genocide, yet more are now starving, wounded and displaced. Our government is complicit in all of that – coordinated direct action to immobilise sites of Israeli weapons production is the only possible response.”

The Instro site, on Artillery Way in the Discovery Park estate, is normally used to manufacture target acquisition, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment for the Israeli military. Since 2008, Instro Precision has applied for and been granted over 50 weapons export licenses to Israel, mostly for goods falling under category ‘ML5b’ (target acquisition and related systems), for products including imaging systems for Israel’s Hermes drones.

Instro’s reports note that “the Directors are of the opinion that Elbit Systems Limited ultimately controls the company, [ultimately] a company incorporated in Israel“. Elbit Systems itself is the largest private contractor to the Israeli military, providing 85% of the occupying forces with drones and land-based military equipment.

Additionally, activists have struck again at the premises of BNY Mellon in Manchester, the financial services corporation which invests over £10million in Elbit Systems. The bank’s windows were shattered, covered in red paint and spray painted with messages including ‘Drop Elbit’, ‘Child Killers’ and ‘Free Palestine’. 

Other actions which have taken place will be announced shortly.